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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Just when I've convinced myself to do the sensible thing...

I was considering going home for a few days in April. I'd like to spend some time with my brother, who I have been missing a lot recently. It was fun when we lived close to one another and could just call in at short notice to say hello. The annual street performance of excerpts from the Messiah on the anniversary of the first performance is on a Saturday this year and some people I met at the performance last November are going over, too so I could have a bit of fun singing and catching up with them as well as with the choir I used to sing with in Ireland. And I'm trying to space out my holidays a bit this year with a few days or a long weekend every couple of months.

However last week I looked at flight prices and would have had to take nearly a full week to get the cheapest available (still nearly 150 euro) and had finally decided yesterday that staying here would be the sensible thing to do. If I spend almost nothing for the next five months I will be debt-free and I just really want that time to arrive already!

Then this morning I got a newsletter from a theatre in Ireland (that doesn't send many newsletters and I keep forgetting I'm still signed up for it) that exactly on the few days I had been thinking of going, Billy Connolly will be performing. Total legend and not outrageously outrageous prices either.

And this afternoon, I got an email from Aer Lingus that they are having a short sale and I checked the same dates as before. Not only could I now get cheaper flights (100 euro), I could get them travelling on otherwise expensive days, not needing to take an entire week's holiday.

I'm torn. I would stay with friends so wouldn't have any accommodation costs except for maybe a nice bottle of wine to go with dinner but I am also aware that once I was in Ireland, I would spend money on things I might not normally buy. There's bus fares (expensive), lunches out (even sandwiches are still fairly expensive in Dublin), sweets and crisps that I can't get in Germany, stocking up on bread soda and buying rashers and sausages in the airport on the way back. I can try all I want to convince myself that this time I wouldn't do it but I know I would so I would be setting myself back by at least half a month.

The Billy Connolly tickets go on sale on Friday morning and will sell out very quickly so I have to make a decision by then at the very latest. Stay sensible or go spendthrift again, that is the question.

4 comments:

Mags
said...

My advice would be to go-for-it. Your original reasons (using up scarce holidays, flight cost) are less valid now. If it comes down to a few weeks longer in debt, it can be easily justified. My thinking would be that I'd be in better form and more sensible with my general spending if I have something like that to look forward to.

I booked flights this morning. And was even able to get an afternoon flight, so no getting up at five in the morning to come back here. I think it'll be worth it, more than one of my friends replied to me today that it seemed like ages since they'd seen me.

Funny. I was going to recommend that you go for it after reading your post and then as I came to comment I see you already have! I don't think it will take you very long to recoup that and get back to your debt free goal. Congrats on that! Thank you for stopping by my blog yesterday. Have a great weekend!

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About Me

Fortysomething living in Germany since 2008. When not struggling with depression I'm trying to get rid of the last of some stupidly incurred debt and move my way towards a more independent life. One in which I know how to do most things for myself and am not reliant on paying others/shops just to cover the basics of life.
Yes, I blog anonymously. No, I don't always reply to comments - not because I don't appreciate them, just because sometimes it's too much, sometimes I just have nothing to say, sometimes just because - please don't take it personally.